CONCORD, N.C. – This weekend marks the first WKA Grand National of the 2012 season with the Vega / TS Racing Road Racing Series driven by Mazda’s Road Race Grand Nationals at the famous Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

This weekend’s show is the second Dart Kart Club-hosted WKA Road Racing national in a little over a month. The Ohio-based club hosted round three of the 2012 national tour May 18-20 at Michigan’s Grattan Raceway before turning its attention to this weekend’s Grand Nationals, the fourth of seven stops on the 2012 National Road Racing calendar.

After a successful return to Grattan last month that saw a respectable entry count of nearly 350 and exciting competition throughout the weekend, Mid-Ohio pre-entry numbers are on track to produce back-to-back lucrative spring national events for the DKC and WKA.

A karting tradition

Mid-Ohio has been a staple venue for enduro-style karting events for nearly five decades. This will be the 11th consecutive year a WKA national has been held at the Lexington race plant.

The DKC began promoting karting events at Mid-Ohio in the mid-1960s, about 10 years before WKA was formed. The first DKC-hosted WKA national at Mid-Ohio was in 1974. WKA national racing was absent at Mid-Ohio from 1983 until 2002, when the track was added back to the national schedule as a spring event. A DKC-hosted national has been held each spring every year since.

Stout competition

Mid-Ohio has long been a well-known venue for big starting fields and some of the best Road Racing competition of the year.

Last year 20 of the fastest karts in the world took the green flag in Unlimited 1 and 2. The classes saw nearly the same amount last month at Grattan and another large field is expected this weekend.

Stock Honda, a 125cc shifter division, is one of the most popular Road Racing classes. Last year 20 racers ran both Stock Honda 1 and 2, and DKC has posted that 13 Stock Honda competitors have pre-entered for the 2012 Grand Nationals.

Weekend schedule

The Mid-Ohio paddock is open for kart teams Thursday for parking, pre-registration and pre-tech. Pit pass sales and pre-entry pickup will begin at 4 p.m. Pit gates will be open from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. for trailer drop-off. Pre-tech will run from 7 to 10 p.m. at Garage 20.

Gates will open at 6 a.m. Friday through Sunday.

Friday will feature a full day of group practice before seven national class groups run Saturday and six more close out the weekend on Sunday.

Click here to view a detailed Road Race Grand Nationals schedule and other important event information.